Early life

Vyacheslav Kvyat worked for Bashneft, initially as a mechanic at the Novo-Ufa refinery, but rose through the ranks to become the financial director of the export division until 1996. Later he branched out and worked with other energy companies, ending up as CFO of West Siberian Energy. At the same time he stood for election as a Deputy in the Bashkortostan state parliament.[3]

Career

Karting (2005-2009)

In January 2005, Kvyat made his professional debut in motorsports winning his very first race in Sochi. During the 2005 and 2006 seasons, Kvyat participated in local events, including the Russian karting championship and cup as well as in the occasional races in Italy. Consistently demonstrating strong performances, he later moved to Italy to fully concentrate on racing in one of the most competitive environments. Kvyat's first professional team in Italy was Franco Pellegrini's crew.

During the winter of 2007, Kvyat's family moved to Italy to support his commitment demonstrated by his strong results. The young driver's parents stayed with him alternately, and he started education in Italian school, continuing to race in local tournaments. Before the start of the 2008 season, Kvyat, who had already proved himself in the Italian karting scene, signed a contract with the Zanardi factory team, led by well-known manager Dino Chiesa. Kvyat moved to the KF3 junior category and became a participant of the prestigious World Series Karting series. However, the Russian driver and Zanardi's partnership did not result in any success. He achieved European Championship qualification but Kvyat switched teams just before the championships started, to join privateers from Morsicani Racing, who used an FA Kart chassis. In their very first race, the new partnership produced an excellent result: Kvyat, who had tested the new kart of the new team just a couple of days before the start of the championship, not only made it to the finals but was fighting for the win.

Kvyat and Morsicani Racing won several prestigious competitions, including WSK rounds and the Bridgestone Cup. The Russian defeated his Zanardi ex-teammate, Nyck de Vries, who was now a protégé of the McLaren Formula 1 team. Kvyat also won the Trofeo delle Industrie, in the final heat of which Kvyat finished ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi and Rafaele Marchiello, future members of the Ferrari Academy.

Kvyat's European winning streak continued at the beginning of the 2009 season. The Morsicani Racing driver won the prestigious Winter Cup in the KF3 category and then added more victories to his name in the WSK rounds in Sarno and Le-Castellet. His victory in the Winter Cup was especially outstanding because he made it to the top of the podium after starting from the last position on the grid, where Kvyat found himself as a result of a clutch failure in qualifying. Kvyat first made his way into the final heat and then, starting from P3, he won that race, overtaking Carlos Sainz Jr along the way. Kvyat became one of the leaders in the WSK series, and began to draw the attention of sponsors. In the spring, he got backing from the Russian Lukoil company. However, the young driver was also noticed by Red Bull. During the summer, Kvyat participated in his first testing session in an open-wheel car, arranged by Red Bull alongside Carlos Sainz Jr, another candidate for the Red Bull Junior Team. Both drivers made a strong impression and signed contracts with the Austrian company.

Kvyat continued to race successfully in karting, taking the bronze at the 2009 European Championship one more time but was unable to reach the finals of the World Cup in Sarno. During the qualifying session slot, chosen for Kvyat by the team, it started to rain and his lap time was not fast enough in comparison with the times posted by drivers on the dry track. Improving his situation during the qualifying heats was barely possible, primarily because the team had decided to place their bets on their second driver, Italian Guliano Maria Niceta. Kvyat decided to part ways with Angelo Morsicani's team after the World Cup and joined the Intrepid factory team. He raced for Intrepid in the last two races of the WSK season, winning the final one. It was the last win of his career in karting as the Red Bull Junior Team bosses decided to progress Kvyat to the next level, straight into the cockpit of the Formula BMW car for the 2010 season.

Formula BMW (2010)

Before the start of the European season, Kvyat travelled to Malaysia with the Eurointernational team, which prepared cars for both the Red Bull juniors, to race in the Formula BMW Asian Championship, where he won his first race. However, his first races back in Europe were not very successful. Sainz, who had more tests under the belt before his debut in open-wheelers, was the first to deliver a result. However, by mid-season, Kvyat had improved his results. In Germany, he qualified in the front row for the first time and after that he finished every race in the points, including the final round in Monza, where he finished in 2nd place, making it to the podium for the first time during his debut European season. Two weeks later, Kvyat won a race in the Asian Championships in Singapore, a positive ending to his campaign in Formula BMW. The Bavarian company had earlier announced the closing of their open-wheel programme by the end of the 2010 season, so Kvyat could not continue to compete in the series.

Toyota Racing Series (2011)

Before the start of the 2011 season in Europe, Kvyat went for a pre-season boot camp in New Zealand to race in the Toyota Racing Series. He raced in four rounds for the Victory Motor Racing team, finishing fifth in the championship with a win in the Dan Higgins Trophy at Manfeild and another five podiums.[4]

For 2012, Kvyat remained in the Formula Renault category, competing in both Formula Renault 2.0 Alps and the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 series. His debut in the Alps championship was marked with a dominating double win at Monza.[5] In May he returned to the Eurocup, and recorded a double win in the opening round of the season at Motorland Aragón.[6] In the Eurocup, Kvyat's main rival was Stoffel Vandoorne, who won four races versus Kvyat's six but he also never finished a single race below P4. Kvyat lost points at Nürburgring due to a wrong tyre choice by his team, and at Hungaroring after crashing with Oliver Rowland. The fate of the title was decided in the last round of the championship in Barcelona. Koiranen GP made a wrong call in the mixed conditions and selected wet tyres for Kvyat although the circuit was drying up after the rain; most of the other drivers on the grid started on slick tires. Thus, having lost several positions in the last part of the race, Kvyat did not score enough points to secure the title. In the Alps series, the Russian was fighting Norman Nato. Barcelona hosted the series finale just a couple of hours after the finish of the Eurocup race. Two title contenders crashed out and, having more overall points in the championship, Kvyat won the title. Russian driver remained with the Red Bull Junior Team and progressed to the GP3 Series for 2013.

Carlos Sainz Jr joined Kvyat as a teammate once again in GP3, after a mediocre season in Formula 3. The season start was a challenge for both drivers: struggling to find appropriate settings for the cars, both Kvyat and Sainz failed in the season opener. They managed to catch up with the leaders after a few rounds, once the Arden engineers mastered management of the Pirelli tyres. Kvyat scored his first podium in the series at Hungaroring in July, then won the race in Spa in August to decrease the points deficit between him and the leaders in the drivers' standings. He went into the Abu Dhabi event being a title contender and finally won the championship in his debut year. His performance in two final feature races at Monza and Abu Dhabi was notable: Kvyat scored a pole, a win, led every lap and recorded the fastest lap, gaining the maximum points available at both races.

Red Bull (2015-2016)

Kvyat was promoted to Red Bull for the 2015 season, to replace the quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel, who would move to Ferrari.[13] He took his first podium in the sport with a second-place finish at the 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix, the highest finish for a Russian driver in Formula One.[14] As a result, Kvyat - aged 21 years, 91 days - became the second-youngest driver to record a podium finish, after Vettel.[14] In qualifying for the 2015 Japanese Grand Prix, Kvyat crashed heavily into the barriers, ultimately flipping the car.[15] He was uninjured, and finished 13th in the race the following day. Kvyat ended the 2015 season with 95 points and 7th place in Drivers' World Championship beating his race winning teammate Daniel Ricciardo by 3 points.[16]

The 2016 season start was a challenge again, but Kvyat finished in P3 in the third round, bringing home the first podium for Red Bull Racing in the new season. However, after an incident during the start of his home Grand Prix at the Russian Grand Prix when Kvyat collided with Sebastian Vettel's car, team management decided to demote Kvyat back to Toro Rosso.

Toro Rosso second-spell (2016-2017)

In the week following the Russian Grand Prix, Red Bull announced that Toro Rosso driver Max Verstappen would be replacing Kvyat beginning from the following round, the Spanish Grand Prix, with Kvyat returning to Toro Rosso alongside Carlos Sainz Jr. According to Red Bull's team principal Christian Horner, "Dany will be able to continue his development at Toro Rosso, in a team that he is familiar with, giving him the chance to regain his form and show his potential."[17] Kvyat spent some time adapting to the team and the new car, and returned to good shape, posting several strong performances in qualifying and races. It was announced ahead of the United States Grand Prix that Kvyat had been re-signed to Toro Rosso for 2017 after much intense speculation.[18]

Although the opening phase of the championship looked promising, with both the car and the drivers demonstrating solid speed, regularly making it into the top ten, Kvyat's season was plagued by multiple problems, including several retirements due to technical failures and occasional driver's mistakes. On 26 September 2017, Toro Rosso announced the decision to replace Kvyat for the forthcoming Malaysian Grand Prix with Frenchman Pierre Gasly, following a sustained run of underwhelming form from the Russian. Whilst confirming the decision to stand Kvyat down, in a statement, Toro Rosso added that the driver switch should not be considered a permanent parting of the ways, saying "This is not a case of goodbye for our Daniil, as he still remains part of the Red Bull Family."[19] Kvyat returned to racing for Toro Rosso at the United States Grand Prix, following teammate Carlos Sainz Jr.'s move to Renault. Despite securing a points finish at the United States Grand Prix it was not enough to secure his seat once more as Toro Rosso chose to continue with New Zealander Brendon Hartley and welcome the return of Pierre Gasly to complete the team's pair in preparation for Mexico.[20] In the week between the United States and Mexican Grands Prix, it was confirmed by Helmut Marko that Kvyat would not return to the team and would be released out of the Red Bull driver development programme.

Ferrari (2018)

After failing to attract a race seat for the 2018 season, Kvyat became the third driver for Ferrari.[22] While mainly focussing on the team's simulator at Maranello. Kvyat drove the Ferrari SF71H for the first time at Fiorano, during a Pirelli wet weather test in April 2018.[23]

Toro Rosso third-spell (2019)

Kvyat rejoined Toro Rosso as a driver for the 2019 season, replacing the Red Bull-bound Pierre Gasly. This saw Kvyat race for the team he debuted in Formula One for a third time in his career.[24] He initially raced alongside Thai driver Alexander Albon, who moved up from the FIA Formula 2 Championship.[25] Kvyat put in strong performances during the first half of the season, achieving six points finishes from twelve races. However, he suffered consecutive retirements in China and Azerbaijan, both as a result of collision damage. His points finishes included 7th place in Monaco, a 9th place in Britain after starting from the back row of the grid and a shock 3rd-place podium finish at the rain-affected German Grand Prix. This came after a strategy call to pit for dry-weather tyres before the rest of the field and an overtake on Lance Stroll. This marked Kvyat's third career podium, and Toro Rosso's first podium since winning the 2008 Italian Grand Prix.[26]

During the summer break prior to the Belgian Grand Prix, Kvyat's teammate Albon was promoted to Red Bull in August to replace Pierre Gasly, who was demoted back to Toro Rosso. Some questioned the decision not to promote Kvyat instead, as he had outperformed Albon during the first half of the season. Red Bull justified the move by saying they wished to trial Albon for the remainder of the season to decide who would partner Max Verstappen at the team in 2020.[27] Kvyat produced an excellent drive in Belgium to finish in 7th place after starting in 19th due to power unit penalties. His third retirement of the season came at the next race in Italy after suffering an oil leak. Kvyat recorded three more points finishes in the remainder of the season; two 10th-place finishes in Japan and Brazil, and a 9th-place finish in Abu Dhabi. He also finished in the points in Mexico and the United States, but was handed post-race penalties for causing last-lap collisions in both races, dropping him out of the points. Kvyat finished the season in 13th place in the championship with 37 points.

AlphaTauri (2020)

Personal life

Kvyat lived in Ufa, Russia, until the age of six when his family moved to Moscow. This is where he first raced go-karts before first moving to Western Europe and racing competitively.[29] Kvyat currently lives in Monaco. In addition to his native Russian, he is also fluent in Italian, Spanish, and English, and has some ability in speaking Finnish and Dutch.[30][31][32]

Rules introduced for the 2014 Formula One World Championship allowed the drivers to pick their own racing numbers that they will carry with them for the rest of their careers. When asked about which number he wanted, Kvyat revealed that 26 was the number he had chosen as he had no previous connection to it, and that he wanted to make it successful.[33]

Until November 2015, Kvyat was one of the few drivers in motor racing to have an FIA Super Licence, but not a regular driving licence in his native Russia.[36]

Starting in August 2016, Kvyat was in a relationship with Kelly Piquet, daughter of three-time F1 World Champion Nelson Piquet. In March 2019, Kelly announced via Instagram that she was expecting the couple's first child and their daughter was born on 27 July.[37] The pair split in December 2019.[38]